Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



F. D. NEWBURY.

Breech-Loading Fire-Arm. No. 51,959. Patented Jan. 9, 1866.

Witnesse Inventor:

ILFETERS. FHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

F. D. NEWBURY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 51,959, dated January 9, 1866; antedated December 29, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, F. D. NEWBURY, of New York, State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Construction of Fire-Arms; and I declare the following specification, with the drawings accompanying it, and forming part thereof, to be a full and complete description of my invention.

My improvement consists in the introduction of a small plate of metal between the barrel and stock of breech-loading pistols eniploying metal cartridges and whose barrels.

revolve horizontally upon the. stock for the purpose of loading, the said metal plate performing the double function of holding the barrel in place during the act of firing and of discharging the metal cartridge after it has been fired.

Figure 1 represents, in profile, a completed pistol with my improvement attached. on a larger scale Fig. 2 represents a portion of the stock with the barrel detached, as seen from above, to exhibit the locality of the metal plate. Fig. 3 is the rear of the barrel, as seen when rex ersed to show its connection with the metal plate. Figs. 4 and 5 show the plate as applied to the stock and barrel and its mode of action. Fig. 6 shows the rear end of the barrel Figs. 7 and 8, vertical sections through the axis of the barrel to show the operation of the plate.

Similar letters in the different figures denote the same parts of the apparatus.

A is the barrel, pivoted to the stock 0 by the pin B D, the hammer; E, the trigger.

That part of the stock which underlies the barrel, Fig. 2, has on its left-hand or thumb side, as you hold it for firing, a recess, F, of uniform depth sunk about the one-sixteenth part of an inch from its upper face, leaving a rim of the metal shaped as shown in the figure, and within the recess lies a spring, a, and a small oblique barrier of metal, 0, placed as shown in the drawings. On the surface of the barrel there is (see Fig. 3) only a square pin, 00, projecting the thickness of the plate P.

The plate P is shown in Figs. 4 and 5, shaped as shown by the dark-shaded lines. It is of thin metal and lies between the barrel A and the stock, its thickness filling up the recess E. It has at b a projection for a thumbpiece to operate the plate. At cit has a shoulder fitting against the rim of the recess, beyond which rim the plate projects inwardly forward with a curved or rounded D-edge, as shown. Through its center it has a slot, r, to slide over pin 00 on the lower face of the barrel, and the pin is dovetailed so as to hold the plate to the barrel, the plate being slipped over it by means of an enlargement of the slot at its front end. The rear end of the plate has a spur or upright,f. (Shown in front at Fig. 6 and in profile in 7 and 8.) Its upper edge is fitted to the curve of the bore of the barrel and coincides with it, so that the lower surface of the cartridge 00 may rest upon it. The rear end of the barrel has a countersink around its bore (shown by shaded lines in Fig. 6) to receive the flange of the cartridge, and the upper part of the spur lies in a recess just beyond this countersink, so as to be just behind the cartridges flange. The part of the spur below the countersink comes out to the face of the barrel and the rear edge of the plate P.

The operation of the plate is thus: When in the position shown in Fig. 4 it lies with its shoulder 0 against the rim of the recess, in which position it is held by the springapressing against the opposite edge of the plate, and while in this position the barrel is locked, so that it cannot be turned upon its axis. By pressing with the thumb upon I), and carrying the shoulder 0 inside of the rim, the barrel can be turned on its axis B. As it moves round, carrying with it the plate P, the end b of it, pressing against barrier e, propels the plate backward, so that when it arrives in the position shown by Fig. 5, clearing the end of the barrel from the stock, so as to allow the outpassing of the cartridges shell, the rear end of the plate with its spur f will have moved far enough from the rear of the barrel to carry outward the shell, so that it can be dropped out by holding the pistol butt downward, or else drawn out easily with the fingers. This done the new cartridge is entered and pressed home with the plate, and the barrel is turned back to its seat, when the plate P resumes its first position, and the pistol is locked ready by the movement of the barrel as it is turned for firing. upon the frame in order to make room for an- What I claim as my invention, and desire other cartridge, substantially as the same is to secure by Letters Patent, isset forth and described in the within specitr- The plate P, shaped as described, and slidcation.

ing between the barrel and frame or stock of F. D. NEWBURY.

the piece, for the purpose of locking them to- Vitnesses:

gether during the act of firing and of remov- JOHN F. GRAY,

ing the empty cartridge-shell from the barrel I JAMES H. BEARDsLEY. 

